Wednesday, 5 September 2012

etoh withdrawal



Hope everyone had a nice long weekend.




We started off the short week talking about alcohol withdrawal.




There are key clinical manifestations that depend on timing since last drink:

Early: (6-36h)
"Minor" - headache, diaphoresis, tachycardia, nausea/vomiting

Seizures can occur early (even with high ETOH levels)--->this is not a good sign
(remember etoh seizure are NOT focal, if recur -its within 6 hours, short, self resolving with minimal post ictal)

12-24h:
hallucinations

48-96h
Delerium tremen (all of the above PLUS autonomic instability-fever, HTN, tachy)


TREATMENT:
Benzo (long acting)
Vitamins
Supportive care

Here is a link to NEJM article outline withdrawal.

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